“I t-tied him up so he d-didn’t run off.”

His voice was high and panicky. Piper watched Zander and was sure he was pushing something into his waistband. Unease slithered up her spine, an awareness that something was very wrong.

“Nice work.” Ava started for Zander, but something made Piper stick out an arm and stop her.

“What are you doing, Piper?” Ava threw her a confused look.

“What are you two doing here? I thought the run was done with?” Zander looked nervous, his eyes moving from left to right constantly.

“We’re the last, and just walking.” Ava pushed out from behind Piper’s arm.

This whole situation felt off somehow, which was weird, as Piper had known Zander for months.

“Buzz escaped, we heard him yelp, then came looking for him.” Ava dropped down beside the dog.

“Yeah, he had something stuck in his paw,” Zander said, shooting Piper a look she had no idea how to interpret.

“Poor baby.” Ava hugged Buzz. “Hey, he’s bleeding!”

Piper hurried forward, dropping to her knees. Parting the fur that was matted with blood, she found a cut about two inches long above his shoulder blade.

“What the hell did you do to him?” She glared up at Zander. “I saw you bent over him, then you tucked something into your waistband.”

“Piper!”

Ignoring Ava’s shock, she straightened and moved closer to Zander.

“Zander would never hurt Buzz, he loves him like we all do.”

“Okay, maybe I was wrong.” Piper decided to back off. This entire situation felt volatile and she didn’t know why. “Let’s go, Ava, we have to finish the race or they’ll come looking for us.”

“Not so fast.”

Ava saw the gun the same time as Piper.

“What the hell, Zander? Quit messing around. Where the did you get that anyway?”

“Come here, Ava.” Piper reached for the girl and tugged her close.

“Zander, stop it, you’re scaring us!” Ava cried.

“This wasn’t meant to happen yet.” He looked agitated. “We had it all planned, and it wasn’t supposed to play out like this.”

“What are you talking about?”

How could the face of a person you’d known for months suddenly change? Gone was the indifference, and in its place was something sinister.

“Adjust, I need to adjust like he would,” Zander said.

“Zander, talk to me,” Ava pleaded. “I don’t understand any of this.”

“I hadn’t planned it like this, but you suspected something.” He waved the weapon at Piper. “You saw me tucking something in my jeans. Father asked me to get revenge, and worked out the plan, and this is the start. We have several more people to kill before he is avenged. But your brother and you were chosen as the first.”

“First what?” Ava whispered.

“First people to die.”